Proso Millet Carrot Payasa/Kheer

Millet Carrot Payasa/Kheer

Millets are amazing in their nutritional content,it is 3-5 times nutritionally superior than wheat and rice in terms of proteins,vitamins and minerals. It contains important amino acids and are very beneficial for diabetics,obesity and heart diseases.Proso Millet is known as “Baragu” in kannada, “Pani-varagu” in Tamil and “Chena or Chin” in Hindi.Increasing awareness about millets has also influenced me and has found a place in my pantry. I have brought all kinds of millets and have started to cook replacing rice and wheat,though not regular.I have tried quite good number of recipes,but as i was cooking with millets for the first time i was bit extra cautious and was not aware of the outcome,so didn’t click any pictures to blog . It was second time i prepared this kheer/payasa (as we call in kannada) for blogging and also of course to satisfy my sweet tooth :). I loved this proso millet payasa/payasam….,i generally refer payasa as kheer if i use sugar and refer the same as payasa if using jaggery.As Millets is very good for diabetics,i prepared this sweet dish to make it diabetic friendly,so i have used Black jaggery here and called this as Payasa. Though i’m not a payasa lover, still i loved this sweet and definitely i’ll be cooking it in future.If you haven’t started using millet yet,it’s time for you to introduce it in your family…..,as we say “shubh aarambh…., kuch meeta ho jaye”!

Clean the millets,wash it and soak it for 10 minutes in water.Drain and keep it aside.

Peel carrot,cut it and along with almonds add 2 tbsp of milk and pressure cook for one whistle. Once pressure releases on its own,remove the skin of almonds,and add it along with carrot to a blender and make a puree .

Take a non stick pan/pressure cooker,add 1 Tbsp ghee fry cashews and raisins. Once raisins puffs up,remove it from ghee and reserve it aside.

In the same pan/pressure cooker,add the drained millet and fry on low heat slowly about 8 minutes till you get nice aroma and millet starts changing the colour.Now add the carrot puree and saute till raw smell of carrot goes off.

Add 1 cup of milk and 1 cup of water and close the lid and cook ,till the millets get cooked.Or Else alternatively you can pressure cook it for 1-2 whistles.Once pressure realesed,add powdered jaggery once it melts,add remaining milk,mix well and allow it to boil.Once it comes to boil,turn off the heat,add ghee,cardamom powder,chopped pista and fried raisins and cashews.